Methacrylate terpolymer approach in the design of a family of chemically amplified positive resists

This work demonstrates that CA resist chemistry can find practical application to IC packaging. A series of CA resists specifically targeted for circuitization applications has been prepared and examined in this study. These resists are based on polymers incorporating t-butyl methacrylate as the acid-labile functionality, methacrylic acid for aqueous developability and good adhesion, and methyl methacrylate to attain the desired mechanical properties. Both the polymer and the imaging chemistry are flexible and can be readily modified for a specific application. Examples include dry film photoresists and deep-UV resists for IC fabrication.